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	Diocese Gets Low Marks for Sex Abuse Response By Bart Jones Newsday April 5, 2008 http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-liside0406,0,2216529.story Six years into the church sex abuse scandal, two-thirds of Long Island's Roman Catholics believe the Diocese of Rockville Centre did a poor or fair job in addressing the crisis, according to a Newsday poll. Conversely, 20 percent said it was doing an "excellent" or "good" job. The national figures were even worse: A total of 85 percent rated the church's performance "fair" or "poor," while 14 percent deemed it "excellent" or "good." Poll respondent John Jandras, 72, a Rockville Centre resident who was raised Catholic but no longer practices, called the church's handling of the scandal "terrible." "I don't have a problem with the church trying to suppress it, but I do have a problem with what they did with the offenders, with the pedophiles themselves and not dealing with them harshly enough," he said in a follow-up interview. Even some respondents who described themselves as faithful Catholics gave the church poor marks. "I think right now they are in cleanup mode," said Lynn Cooney, 38, a parishioner at St. Anthony of Padua in East Northport. "I think while it was happening, it was horrible. They were moving people they knew were guilty. ... That was horrible, and I can't even imagine what those people who survived it went through. Right now, it is almost too little, too late." Some church observers, including those critical of Bishop William Murphy on some issues, nonetheless credited him for taking steps to address the scandal. Chief among them: a requirement that all church workers and volunteers take Virtus safe-environment training. The program aims to prevent sex abuse by alerting people to possible signs of abuse, among other methods. The Rev. Patrick Bonner, chaplain at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, said he had to go through extensive background checks before he was allowed to come to the diocese on a temporary basis from his native Ireland. "They go to great lengths to protect our children," Bonner said. At the start of the scandal, he added, "I don't think they [church leaders] realized the extent and the heinousness of the crime." Contact: bart.jones@newsday.com
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